COLLEGE KILLER TO CONTEST PLEA, WANTS NEW TRIAL IN '98 SLAYING

Jeff Coen, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Almost nine months after he was ordered to spend 60 years in prison for the 1998 killing of Andrea Racibozynski of Naperville, Clyde Best and his attorneys were expecting to file court documents this week challenging the sentence.

Attorney Christopher Kanthak of Galesburg said he would file a motion seeking to vacate the plea of guilty but mentally ill which Best entered in Knox County last summer. The paperwork also asks that Best's sentence be reconsidered.

Prosecutors had sought an extended sentence of natural life in prison for Best, who was accused of bludgeoning the 19-year-old student in a dormitory stairwell at Knox College in Galesburg. Defense attorneys asked the judge to sentence Best to 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, arguing that he had no criminal record and that he had demonstrated signs of schizophrenia.

Such appeals are not uncommon in murder cases, but Best's carries an extra wrinkle.

Best is asking for a new trial in part because he was denied his right to the legal counsel of his choice: himself.

A judge in the case originally honored Best's request to act as his own attorney during court proceedings, but the order lasted just one court session. Best arrived in court for a subsequent hearing, but after he refused to speak to the judge, his attorneys were reinstated.

Best's mental status has come into play as well. In a brief Best wrote after his sentencing last fall, he attributes the Racibozynski homicide to his health.

"The evidence introduced at sentencing reveals that this murder was not preconceived, calculated, or planned, but the result of an emotional disturbance caused by mental illness," wrote Best, 20, who argues he thought he would be eligible for probation by pleading guilty but mentally ill.

Knox County prosecutors were unavailable for comment.

Kanthak said he believes the court should take Best's motion seriously.

"There are some issues here that have to be dealt with," Kanthak said. "I think our court filing will show that there is a question as to whether he understood the penalty that could be imposed."

The attorney said he believes Best's sentence was too harsh, especially considering his clean criminal record.

"That was unreasonable," Kanthak said. Racibozynski's parents and Knox County State's Atty. Paul Mangieri have expressed some disappointment with the sentence as well, considering it too light.

A hearing on Best's filing is expected sometime next month.

A psychiatrist who testified on Best's behalf at his September 1999 sentencing told Circuit Judge James Stewart that Best is schizophrenic and was suffering the effects of a psychotic episode when he killed Racibozynski, a graduate of Naperville Central High School.

The judge was not impressed, saying credibility was a factor in his ultimate dismissal of the idea that Best was trying to do away with a figment of his imagination named Dupree when he attacked his fellow student.

Police and prosecutors said Best had met Racibozynski just moments before she was killed. After meeting on the school's main square, the two had walked back to Best's dormitory so he could drop off a jacket in his room before heading to a fraternity party.

When Racibozynski changed her mind about going to the party with Best, prosecutors alleged Best beat her with a brick he had used as a doorstop in his room.